The potential for subsea companies to benefit from the forecasted floating offshore wind boom will be explored in a three-part webinar series starting next week.
Hosted by Subsea UK, in conjunction with the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult’s Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence (FOW CoE), the first online event is due to take place on Tuesday, March 9.
It will focus on the projected growth in the global floating offshore wind industry.
Experts from ORE Catapult’s team will explore deployment targets and provide an overview of the £2 million FOW CoE’s objectives, work programme and supply chain development activities.
Relevant opportunities for the subsea sector, including dynamic cables and ancillary systems and mooring and anchoring systems, will also be discussed.
Guest speaker Alexander Fløtre from Rystad will forecast demand for offshore wind cables driven by floating wind, helping potential suppliers assess the scale of opportunity.
The UK Government has set a target of 1 gigawatt (GW) of floating wind capacity by 2030, while the EU is aiming to have 100-150 GW by 2050.
Recent research from Wood Mackenzie forecasted that the floating market in Asia Pacific could offer investment opportunities worth up to $58 billion.
Subsea UK is encouraging underwater engineering companies to capitalise on the “massive” global potential in the emerging sector.
Neil Gordon, chief executive of the industry body, said: “The UK’s subsea sector is ideally placed to leverage its vast underwater sectoral experience to segue seamlessly into supporting floating offshore wind and play an integral part of its future.
“Floating offshore wind has the potential to be a massive industry on a global scale and there are very real opportunities for the subsea sector to grasp in this exciting, emerging market.
“This initial webinar provides an overview of the industry for our participants, concentrating on the predicted FOW deployment rates until 2050, the size of opportunity for the supply chain and how to engage with work on mooring and anchoring systems and dynamic cables.
“We’ll be supplementing this session with two subsequent webinars that highlight critical subsea components in floating offshore wind, with lots of practical advice on how delegates can get involved in this game-changing space.”
Ellen Jump, project engineer for ORE Catapult, who will be presenting as part of the webinar series, said: “The UK has world-renowned expertise in subsea engineering, including in areas directly relevant to floating offshore wind, such as mooring and anchoring systems and dynamic cable and ancillary systems.
“These two areas are among a number, identified by FOW CoE partners, particularly in the context of their deployment in UK projects, which present some unique challenges.
“Two ongoing FOW CoE projects will not only increase the floating wind industry’s understanding of the technical requirements for these systems for UK projects, but also inform the supply chain of the required capability and capacity to deliver these systems at the scale and volume floating offshore wind will require.
“It’s key that the FOW industry utilises and builds upon the existing knowledge and experience within the UK subsea sector, and that the supply chain begins to gear up now in order to be ready to deliver the scale of components and installation expertise required for the future – both here in the UK and globally.
“These webinars will outline the opportunities for the supply chain in coming years and guidance on how they can engage with the FOW CoE’s activities.”
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